Category: Washington Redskins

Antonio Gates is getting some career advice from his friend and former teammate LaDainian Tomlinson — hang it up.

After 15 seasons with the Chargers, the team has cut ties with the 37-year-old tight end — and he still hasn’t been picked up by another squad.

The biggest challenge has been getting in the playbook, making sure I understand all the adjustments we need to make and learning the terminology, Carter said. Everywhere you go, it’s going to be different terminology, so you just want to be speaking the same language as the coaches.

He has bounced around the league as a coach since 2000.

Now as the leader of the Chargers, the 49-year-old wanted to take care of some unfinished business. He enrolled at UNLV to obtain a bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies.

Even though Lynn had waited all these years for the moment, he initially hadn’t planned on walking at graduation.

When I told my counselor, when I told her what my plans were, she’d just assumed that I was walking the whole time, Lynn said, per Williams. I never assumed I was walking. The disappointment on her face when I told her I wasn’t coming, it was tough. I thought about it. She made me rethink it. I decided to walk, because if it could inspire one person, then it’s worth it.

Lynn revealed that this was a plan years in the making, dating back to 2014 when he heard someone else’s story of going back to school many years later. At that point, he just had to find the right school.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s first trip to Las Vegas was a colossal bust. In 2013, the French-born winger’s Skellefteå AIK won the Swedish Hockey League championship, and the team splurged with a weeklong trip to Vegas. Upon arriving at the airport, Belle-mare was told that his passport — which didn’t have a necessary biometric chip — was no good. So instead, he spent the week holed up at his mother’s house in France. Naturally, it rained every day.

Nearly every teammate can relate. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was dumped by the Penguins, for whom he won 375 games (and three Stanley Cups) over 13 seasons. A tad short for scouts’ liking, 5-foot-9 center Jonathan Marchessault toiled with two clubs before breaking out with 30 goals for the Panthers last season. Defenseman Nate Schmidt spent a chunk of last season sitting in the press box as the Capitals’ seventh defenseman.

While his lack of spot shooting kills offensive flow at times, Fultz can have an impact off the ball by staying active as a cutter, playing off the Sixers’ many talented passers.

Brett Brown uses Fultz’s big body as a screener to spring Redick and Belinelli, and Philly could get even more creative with ways to get Fultz on the move to the rim. He’s still learning how to play with more urgency off the ball, but there’s certainly potential there.

But flu or no flu, the Knights are acutely aware of the skepticism that comes from being the first major league sports team in Las Vegas. Well before the season, team ownership doubled down on securing a fan base. In August, two months before puck drop, the Knights rented a 45-foot bus, slathered it with black decals and their team logo, and drove more than 1,000 miles from the city. On a four-day tour, they hosted open skates and meet and greets in towns like Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, and Whitefish, Montana — not exactly hockey hotbeds but territory the Knights claimed in their TV distribution rights. “There’s no professional sports team that attacks that marketplace, that’s involved in that marketplace,” owner Bill Foley says. “So we can be their team.”

Toughest tests: The Raiders were terrible on the road last season, going only 2-6 after they went to the playoffs with a 6-2 mark the season prior. They’ve got to get back to grinding for Gruden and winning close games away from the Black Hole. Opponent-wise, the Rams and Steelers plus their difficult AFC West foes make the home schedule more daunting in what could be the final season in Oakland. Denver, Kansas City and Los Angeles round out what’s arguably the league’s best division.

Biggest breaks: The Browns and Colts look like they would be breaks, but really, the most favorable matchups are on the road against the Cardinals, Bengals and Dolphins. Those five games are critical for the Raiders to return to the playoffs.

Bottom line: The Raiders will be significantly better under Gruden in time, but the coaching change plus remixed personnel in a difficult division will hold them back in the short term. Although Oakland will hang around in the AFC wild-card race because of the schedule’s weaknesses, the team will fall short of its surprise 2016 form. Record prediction: 8-8

The players in the room sounded off about why Colin Kaepernick, who voiced his social activism by kneeling during the anthem before games, had not been signed yet. The biggest theme seemed to be the consensus that the former 49ers quarterback should, in fact, be on a team.

“If he was on a roster right now, all this negativeness and divisiveness could be turned into a positive,” Eagles defensive lineman Chris Long said at the meeting adding, “We all agree in this room as players that he should be on a roster.”

Kaepernick’s former teammate Eric Reid, who was the first to kneel alongside him, was direct in saying Kaepernick was being blackballed.

“I feel like he was hung out to dry,” Reid said. “Everyone in here is talking about how much they support us. Nobody stepped up and said we support Colin’s right to do this. We all let him become Public Enemy No. 1 in this country, and he still doesn’t have a job.”

The conversation shifted into discussing ways around the continued attacks from President Donald Trump, who took to Twitter many times to express his disapproval of the player protests.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft said the problem is, “We have a president who will use that as fodder to do his mission that I don’t feel is in the best interests of America. It’s divisive and it’s horrible.”

Alabama landed Maryland linebacker Shane Lee on Tuesday, the No. 33-ranked prospect in the 2019 class. Lee is the seventh ESPN Junior 300 commitment for the Crimson Tide and the third in the month of April.

Lee, a 6-foot, 253-pound linebacker from Baltimore, is the No. 2-ranked inside linebacker in the class. He gives Alabama four top-100 commitments. He is also the highest-ranked commitment in the class as it stands now, two spots ahead of offensive lineman Pierce Quick.

The fast start in this class is reverting to the norm after Alabama’s 2018 class was ranked No. 25, with only three total commitments this time last year.

The Tide also had a slow finish to the early signing period at the end of December but closed strong with the February signing day, finishing with the No. 6 class.

Defenses help from the weak side as a rule, and so E’Twaun Moore – who was fantastic on defense in Game 1 — sloughs off McCollum here. New Orleans will be ready for this. Expect it to scrap these dictates and help off Turner and Aminu, regardless of where they are. That only puts more pressure on Portland to get creative and put those guys in motion as cutters and screeners

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh hired McElwain in February to coach a group of Wolverines wide receivers who struggled to produce big numbers during the 2017 season. The former Florida and Colorado State head coach said he’s not quite sure how he landed in Ann Arbor but sees his new job in the Big Ten as a chance to observe how someone else steers the ship.

“I don’t know if he got the wrong number and I answered,” McElwain said Monday night, speaking to local reporters for the first time since taking the job. “No, I don’t really know how it came about, but we got a phone call and I was obviously very excited to come and, if nothing else, get an opportunity to stand in the background and see how something is operated.”

McElwain got a firsthand look at his new players this past September, when Michigan beat his Gators 33-17 in the season opener. McElwain, who was fired from the Florida job less than two months later, said he knew plenty about rising sophomores Tarik Black and Donovan Peoples-Jones from his former team’s preparation to stop them last summer.

Michigan’s young receiver group hauled in only three receiving touchdowns — six came from other position groups — during the 2017 season. McElwain said the group has work to do, but he has seen promise in spring practice.

Last month, center Daniel Kilgore signed an extension with the 49ers. Last week, the 49ers abruptly traded him to the Dolphins, a day after signing former Giants center Weston Richburg.

Kilgore, for his part, isn’t upset about the move.

I don’t regret anything, Kilgore told reporters on Friday, via the Miami Herald. I did want to stay there. I had the goal of starting my career there and finishing my career there. That obviously is not going to happen. . . . I’ve been there for seven seasons. This happening, I don’t regret it, it’s a new chapter for my family and I.

It looks like things are trending that way as Tuesday gets going.

A former professional rodeo cowboy, university professor and upper level manager industry, shares a unique blend of academic and real-life experience wrapped wholesome humor.I ‘t write it down.Undrafted rookie Burks could now be ticketed for that role.That was especially true against Atlanta’s offense, which is ranked No.Kicker Walsh and kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson have received most of the glory for the team’s special teams excellence, but punt returner and cornerback Sherels has certainly been important contributor to the Vikings’ special teams success as well.

The Titans could have held onto defensive end David King＆s rights by tendering him as an exclusive rights free agent, but they opted to circumvent the process.

The team announced on Wednesday that they have re-signed King to a one-year deal.

So while they still have plenty of work to do, Hitchens is a solid building block on that side to go along with their splash signing of wide receiver Sammy Watkins.

“I apologize to our fans, my family and the entire Chargers organization. I hate that I won’t be able to be there for my teammates to start the season, but I will turn this into a positive. When my number is called, you can count on me being ready to answer that call.”

Entering his eighth season, Liuget has started 100 career games in NFL, all with the Chargers franchise. For his career, Liuget has tallied 261 tackles, 22.5 sacks and five forced fumbles.

The Canucks then displayed a little bit of offensive prowess of their own, tying the game when Sam Gagner’s pass slipped under Vegas defenseman Luca Sbisa and Baertschi punched it home, then taking a 2-1 lead when Vanek tapped in a loose puck.

Karlsson’s two goals give him 33 for the season, third-best in the NHL behind Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (36) and Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin (34).

Whether the decision to hold that discussion in front of so many people was a prudent one or not — and it should be noted that no one believes it was Altman who leaked that discussion to Irving or his agent, Jeff Wechsler — there was a communication flow Altman had to control once he was put in place to run the Cavs’ front office.

While the Cavs were struggling in late December through early January, LeBron James questioned Altman’s absentee status on a long Cleveland road trip, team sources told ESPN. It was a big difference from Griffin, who was in constant communication with James in their three seasons in Cleveland together. Altman had his reasons, however. For one, he and his fiancée welcomed the birth of their first child, who experienced health complications, and Altman was there for his family as a father. Also, unlike in years past, the Cavs had two first-round draft picks to prepare for in the 2018 NBA draft. Altman’s scouting duties were more involved than Griffin’s were in the past.

The fact that Altman went to James prior to the trade deadline for a sit-down meeting to loop in his superstar about the potential deals the Cavs would swing, as earlier reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, was seen as progress.

Brady is the oldest MVP in league history and is still the oldest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl — he set that record in last year’s comeback win over the Falcons. He led the league in passing yards while finishing in the top five in touchdown passes, interception rate, yards per pass, and quarterback rating.

The events surrounding the game will be anchored by the Golden 1 Center, with an indoor-outdoor Global Pavilion near the capitol to host concerts and food events that show off the region.

The bid promises to take fans from transportation hubs to accommodations and venues in 30 minutes or less by the use of self-driving vehicles and dedicated traffic lanes.

Ranadive believes the arena raised the bar on technology and environmentalism for sports venues. There are smart turnstiles that allow fans to enter at more than triple the usual speed and the NBA’s first 4K ultra HD video board that stretches 84 feet long.

There was a penalty called on the Vikes near the line of scrimmage, but it was declined.

But then there was a replay review to see if Nelson “survived the ground.” After a delay in zero degrees, it was determined that he had not.

And so the declined penalty also was reversed to an accepted penalty, thus the second new line of scrimmage had to be determined.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Bud Selig dismissed concerns about recidivist on-the-job misconduct of recently resigned Bob Bowman, a top MLB executive, because Bowman’s division was making money. Gee, that doesn’t sound at all like Selig, does it?

“Dwayne’s had a very solid role for us all year long,’’ Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “He does what we ask him to do. Some things are different than the way he was taught to do them in the past, but he’s been very open and receptive to trying to do what the team needs him to do on any particular play or situation or technique or whatever it happens to be.’’

Josh Jackson, CB, Iowa. The 49ers landed a franchise quarterback in a deadline deal with the Patriots, and that provides the freedom to go any number of directions with this pick. Here, they get a potential shutdown cornerback to add to a young, improving secondary. Between Jackson, 2017 third-round pick Ahkello Witherspoon and K’Waunn Williams, the 49ers would have the ability to match up with most passing games on the back end.

Despite being blitzed on nearly half of his 45 drop-backs, Beathard, who replaced ineffective veteran Brian Hoyer, completed 22 of 38 for 235 yards with no touchdown or interceptions and a passer rating of 76.1. He was sacked five times and hit six other times.

If you’re looking for an early candidate for NFL Coach of the Year, take a close look at Minnesota’s Mike Zimmer. The Vikings can get to 6-2 with a win over the Browns in Twickenham, England.

Zimmer and the Vikings are doing this with their third choice at quarterback, Texans’ castoff Case Keenum. Teddy Bridgewater remains injured from his horrible 2016 training camp knee injury. Sam Bradford, who was brought in to play in the place of Bridgewater, continues to have trouble staying on the field.

Werner was one of a record 11 foreign-born players taken in this draft. Perhaps that was too many. The German, who was an All-American at Florida State, started 15 games in 2014 and showed promise with 50 tackles and four sacks. But he was a non-factor in the playoffs and inactive for the AFC championship game. He lost his starting job the next season and was waived after making just 13 tackles in 10 games. The Jaguars signed him before the 2016 season, but soon released him. Werner announced he was retiring due to injuries.

The NFL got exactly what it needed Thursday night, a thrilling game in Oakland between the Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs with a crazy finish that will be a topic of discussion Friday.

The Los Angeles Rams are a first-place team as their youthful head coach, Sean McVay, turns second-year quarterback Jared Goff into a player worthy of last year’s No. 1 overall selection. The Philadelphia Eagles are off to a 5-1 start behind the quarterback drafted last year immediately after Goff, Carson Wentz. The New York Jets are not tanking the season. Rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson looks like a star in the making in Houston. The Chiefs were the final team to suffer a loss.

Brees is the first player I know of to have gotten into the NFL Scouting Combine to watch the workouts a year before he entered the draft. I got him in, and I remember him sitting there at the starting line of the 40-yard dash with myself and Bill Parcells, Al Davis and Jerry Jones. I was astonished at how much poise and class Brees showed in the company of those three gods of the NFL.

I don’t think Brees gets enough credit for being on the leading edge of the league’s offensive evolution. He is the all-time leader in both career completion percentage (66.9) and single-season completion percentage (72.0, set this season). He’s second all-time in completions (6,222), third in attempts (9,294), third in passing yards (70,445) and third in passing touchdowns (488). He’s also racked up five 5,000-yard seasons, four more than anyone else in NFL history. People have doubted him ever since he came out of high school, largely because of his height, and he was driven to overcome those doubts and become a truly transcendent quarterback.

“Brian is an incredibly smart, hardworking individual that understands the importance of good communication. We couldn’t be more excited about naming him our new general manager,” Texans owner Bob McNair said in a statement.

Lockhart, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications and public affairs, said earlier Thursday that some teams are looking at what the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals did Monday night as a possible model of how to handle this going forward.

Especially when the quarterback who is supposed to carry the torch now that Carson Wentz is gone finished with a 9.3 passer rating.

Nick Foles threw 11 passes before leaving the game, but completed just four of them for 39 yards and threw an interception. Philadelphia’s defense is going to have to lead the way, but the Eagles’ offense has to at least score a few points and that looks like a real problem.

You want to know why Tom Brady goes to bed at 8:30 and doesn’t eat sugar and has avocado ice cream and treats his body so reverentially? For days like this. Buttoning his blue checked shirt after the game at his locker, he smiled just thinking about it. “Such a great place to play … football at its best,” Brady told me. “The crowd supports their team so much, which is fantastic, but the other side is, they give us so much too. We feed off it.”

Pittsburgh 11-2, New England 10-3. Winner likely to get home-field in the AFC. But with 10-4 Jacksonville lurking, the loser could end up without a week off to start the playoffs. And there was more. The Steelers had a four-game losing streak against New England, and were just 3-10 against the Pats in the Belichick era. “We’ve got to prove they don’t have our number,” said Steelers fan Phil Gennaro, an insurance adjustor on his third IC Light at Tequila Cowboy, a bar in the shadow of Heinz Field, Saturday night. “This game’s bigger for us than for them.”

The biggest question for the Steelers’ immediate financial future is how much longer Ben Roethlisberger hopes to play. He’s due to count $23.2 million against the salary cap in 2018 and 2019, although he’s already dropped a few hints that retirement could be on the horizon.

Ninety-minute team lift, on an outdoor roof deck. “Everybody seems like they were in a good mood,” Graham says. “They understand what [the Seattle loss] was, and we move forward.” At the same time, the players are turning their clocks backward. The Eagles stayed on Eastern time for the Seattle game but switch to Pacific time for the week in California. It’s an adjustment: Graham sheepishly admits he hit the hay at 8:30 p.m. PT on Monday night.

thes centered on game corrections—offense at Angel Stadium, defense at the hotel—the team’s 14 rookies bus to Orange County’s Ronald McDonald House. Fred Hill, the former Eagles tight end, helped found the original Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia in 1974 after his 3-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. The rookies spend about an hour with Hill and the people the house serves, families of seriously ill children, playing cornhole and decorating picture frames. “As soon as we got off the bus, they were so cheerful and almost, like, starstruck,” says receiver Mack Hollins.

Kieffer Bellows scored his second goal with 7:29 left in the third period to lead the U.S. in a 4-2 quarterfinal victory over Russia on Tuesday night.

41 Panthers jerseys.It says something great about the Cubs’ future that a rookie could do something big the present.Any position, right wing, left wing, I don’t care.Kinsler is owed $11 million 2017, with a $10-million option for 2018.Buffalo doesn’t have much money to spend after keeping Tyrod Taylor, but the team has been flirting with fullbacks to replace aging Jerome as LeSean ‘s lead blocker.When he signed with the Bucs 2012, eyeing life after football, he sought to finish that degree.The country is stronger than that.That doesn’t surprise me at all.Late the second period, Doan took a nifty pass from Connor Murphy and put it past Frederik Andersen for goal number 400.One of the later-, lesser-regarded plays Shakespeare’s oeuvre, is also one few theater companies stage.The year after the ’79 Steelers became the first Super Bowl winner comprised of players who had not played for any other team.

She praised as example of someone who never forgot his roots.You don’t take a flier on this position.Your number on text.That’s not what we’re supposed to be about.Four maybe, but beyond that sounds like sarcasm.Wilkerson, , Qvale and Seferian-Jenkins all sat out ‘s win because of their respective injuries.He knows all about exciting events.

The Celtics open 2018 at home Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, their partners in the offseason trade that sent Irving to Boston. The Cavs beat the Celtics in the 2017 Eastern Conference finals and in the season opener in Cleveland.

“They’ve had everybody’s number in the East for a couple of years now and we’re among that list,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said.

He could get drafted as high as the fifth.Over a full , Vatrano’s 30 game production looks like a 20 point .If Jenkins doesn’t play, the Giants likely repeat what they did against the Eagles last week, when Rodgers-Cromartie started and Trevin Wade and Coty Sensabaugh played larger roles the sub packages.At least one notable name was missing from the fold, however, which had some wondering if he would be in the fold next as originally planned.Rookie linebacker Deion Jones sealed the victory with a 90-yard interception return the fourth quarter.And every time I get yelled at by K that , I’m calling home to complain.Weaknesses Below average take-on skills.He’s teamed with a foundation aimed at promoting youth sports and fighting childhood obesity.37, he has found a way to remain effective at both ends of the ice as the league has shifted away from fighting.I was back Athens a week after graduating, covering the event for the local NBC station.